Chapter I: Evacuation Order No. 19

1. Whose point of view dominates this chapter?
2. What does the woman see in the window? Otsuka tells us that “she wrote down a few words.” [p. 3] What do they turn out to be?
3. How much time passes between the appearance of the notice and the events of the rest of the chapter? What do we learn has happened during that time?
4. What items does the woman buy at the hardware store? What does she intend to do with them? Why might Mr. Lundy keep insisting that she can pay him later, and why is she in turn so determined to pay him now?
5. Which of the family possessions do the woman and her children pack; which things do they leave behind? What do their choices tell you about them? Discuss the significance of the bonsai tree, the reproduction of “The Gleaners,” and the portrait of Princess Elizabeth.
6. Otsuka describes the woman as someone “who did not always follow the rules.” Where in this novel do we see her doing this?
7. Why does the woman kill White Dog? How does she explain its disappearance to the children? Do they believe her? Where else do we see her lying to the?
8. Why is the boy so insistent on keeping his hat on?
9. The girl worries about her looks, noting that “people were staring.” [p. 15] What might be the real reason they were staring at her?
10. Why does the girl ask her mother to make her practice for her piano lesson, and why, when her mother refuses, does she practice anyway?
11. At what point in the evening’s routines does the woman begin to cry? What is the significance of “La donna é mobile,” a song whose title means “Woman Is Fickle”?
12. Discuss the significance of the chapter’s final sentence: “Then they would pin their identification numbers to their collars and grab their suitcases and climb up onto the bus and go to wherever it was they had to go.” [p. 22] Why is the author vague about their destination

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Trachtenberg, Peter. Teacher's Guide: When the Emperor Was Divine. NY: Anchor Books, 2003. 16 March 2007 .